Mrs. Peter Blewett

Mrs. Peter Blewett is a minor but pivotal character in Anne of Green Gables, whose brief appearance in the sixth chapter nearly derails Anne Shirley's future. A small, shrewish-faced woman with a reputation as a 'terrible worker and driver,' she is introduced as a potential new guardian for Anne after the Cuthberts' request for a boy results in a girl being sent. Her cold, calculating offer to take Anne off Marilla Cuthbert's hands, and her ungracious reaction when Marilla hesitates, serve as the catalyst that forces Marilla to recognize her own growing attachment to the child and ultimately decide to keep her at Green Gables.

Identity and Introduction

Mrs. Peter Blewett is first mentioned by Mrs. Alexander Spencer as a solution to the Cuthberts' dilemma. When Marilla Cuthbert arrives at White Sands to correct the mistake that brought Anne Shirley instead of a boy, Mrs. Spencer reveals that Mrs. Blewett had been at her house the previous day, expressing a wish for a little girl to help her. Mrs. Spencer describes this as 'positively providential,' presenting Mrs. Blewett as a ready-made answer to the problem of what to do with Anne.

Marilla knows Mrs. Blewett only by sight, but she has heard of her. The narrative describes her as 'a small, shrewish-faced woman without an ounce of superfluous flesh on her bones.' More damningly, Marilla has heard that she is 'a terrible worker and driver,' and that discharged servant girls tell 'fearsome tales of her temper and stinginess, and her family of pert, quarrelsome children.' This reputation immediately gives Marilla a qualm of conscience at the thought of handing Anne over to her 'tender mercies.'

The Offer and Its Conditions

Mrs. Blewett appears in person at Mrs. Spencer's house while the Cuthberts are there, and Mrs. Spencer quickly explains the situation, suggesting that Anne would be 'just the thing' for her. Mrs. Blewett's response is purely practical and devoid of warmth. She darts her eyes over Anne from head to foot and demands her age and name. Upon learning Anne is eleven, she comments, 'You don't look as if there was much to you. But you're wiry. I don't know but the wiry ones are the best after all.'

Her terms are blunt and conditional: 'Well, if I take you you'll have to be a good girl, you know--good and smart and respectful. I'll expect you to earn your keep, and no mistake about that.' She then adds, 'Yes, I suppose I might as well take her off your hands, Miss Cuthbert. The baby's awful fractious, and I'm clean worn out attending to him. If you like I can take her right home now.' This offer, framed as a convenience to herself rather than any kindness to Anne, reveals her view of the child as a source of labor to relieve her own burdens.

Marilla's Hesitation and Anne's Reaction

Marilla's response to Mrs. Blewett is a turning point. Looking at Anne's pale face and 'look of mute misery,' Marilla feels an 'uncomfortable conviction that, if she denied the appeal of that look, it would haunt her to her dying day.' She does not fancy Mrs. Blewett and cannot take the responsibility of handing a sensitive, 'highstrung' child over to such a woman. Instead of agreeing, Marilla says she has not absolutely decided against keeping Anne, and that she will take her home to talk it over with Matthew Cuthbert, promising to bring or send her the next night if they decide not to keep her.

Mrs. Blewett's reaction is ungracious: 'I suppose it'll have to,' she says. Anne, who has been listening, is transfigured by hope. When Mrs. Blewett and Mrs. Spencer leave the room, Anne springs up and flies to Marilla, breathlessly asking if she really said she might stay. Marilla, trying to be stern, reminds her that they might still let Mrs. Blewett take her, to which Anne passionately declares, 'I'd rather go back to the asylum than go to live with her! She looks exactly like a--like a gimlet.' This comparison, though reproved by Marilla, underscores the sharp, piercing quality of Mrs. Blewett's character.

Consequences and Significance

Mrs. Blewett's role, though brief, is decisive. Her very presence and her offer force Marilla to confront her own feelings. The thought of handing Anne over to such a woman is so repugnant that Marilla realizes she cannot do it, leading her to reconsider the entire plan. When Marilla later tells Matthew about the interview, he declares with unusual vim, 'I wouldn't give a dog I liked to that Blewett woman.' This shared aversion solidifies their decision to keep Anne.

Mrs. Blewett never appears again in the narrative, but her impact is lasting. She represents the harsh, utilitarian fate that Anne narrowly escapes—a life of drudgery under a cold, demanding mistress. Her brief appearance highlights the precariousness of Anne's position as an orphan and serves as the direct catalyst for Marilla's decision to give Anne a permanent home at Green Gables, a choice that shapes the entire rest of the novel.